Game And Fish Funding Bill Survives Another Day

The Wyoming House of Representatives again discussed whether to provide money to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department for health insurance and for management of grizzly bears.

Wednesday the House voted down an attempt to remove the Grizzly funding and Thursday the House defeated an amendment that would have removed health insurance funds. House Floor Leader Kermit Brown says the additional money is needed because lawmakers won't approve license fee increases.

"As more and more tasks are put on this department that must be paid for out of the general fund because there's no license fee revenue to pay for them. Then more and more general fund money will need to be devoted to this department. We can't expect them to do these tasks for us, that we assign to them, that have nothing to do with what we hunt and fish and eat."

It’s estimated that health insurance and grizzly management would cost the state seven million dollars per year. The bill will be debated for a final time on Friday.

Next week the Wyoming Game and Fish Department will begin a series of public meetings. They’ll gather public input on the rules and regulations the department will use to manage wolves in the state. The rules will be finalized by the Game and Fish Commission in April. Chief Game Warden Brian Nesbit and the Department Director Scott Talbott talk with Wyoming Public Radio’s Bob Beck.

INTRO: Each year, the Game and Fish Department discovers dozens of wildlife crimes in Wyoming. They range from hunting without a license, to killing an animal from the road. The department takes these infractions very seriously, and runs a cutting-edge wildlife forensics lab to investigate them. Wyoming Public Radio’s Willow visited the lab and filed this report.